cherish and protect us

Seren

The stiffness should have been warning enough, but Seren was not paying attention like she normally did. Only with the darkening and the cold did she realize what thin ice she had strayed onto. Unfortunately the warning did very little to curb the emotions that went off like firecrackers within.

Stiff and with her back ramrod straight, Seren chewed on feelings of indignation, frustration and the general unfairness of it all. A hundred retorts and defenses begged to be uttered, but she bit them back. Sorted through each argument in turn and found them crumbling between her fingers like so much sand.

"I am sorry, Mother. You never treated me like that. I apologize for taking my frustration with Father out on you - it was unfair of me." she said after a long while, and bent her neck, though that too was a little stiff and the heat kept burning in her throat. "I never intended to neglect the task you gave me. I will step away from the others." Though it hurt. She'd be letting Sah down. And Amalia... But she didn't want to be dismissed from her task either.

There was no swallowing the sense of having been set aside by Ronin and Remi, however. Their dismissal, the way they had stepped in and simply taken over still rankled and burned - even as the intense cold made her breath mist and linger in the air.

The torturous stars are taking every breath I wish I held
The love in my heart is never ending

every bait and switch was a work of art

'His task is to keep you safe.' Safrin replies. "And in that, the penalty for failure is a fate worse than death." She explains. 'You might not be a child Seren, but you are not as strong as you will one day become. For all that you have learned, there is still so much that you do not."

Pulling in a deep breath, Safrin merely tilts her head over her shoulder, neither agreeing with nor ignoring her daughter's reaffirmed commitment. "This is what it looks like to keep all your balls in the air, Seren." Either the girl was capable of juggling them, or she was not. And if she was not but failed to realize it, they would all come crashing down.

Tensing her jaw, the goddess looks at her daughter for a moment, before letting her lips part into a smile. "I love you, Seren." She whispers warmly, spreading her arms for a last embrace before disappearing into the evening air.

you're the one prize i'd cheat to win

Seren

It still hurt. It still didn't seem fair. But far worse than letting her friends down or being left out of an interesting adventure, was the leaden weight of loneliness that came with arguing with her parents. The only two in the whole world who truly knew and understood her.

Hateful tears burned in her eyes, from the intensity of her emotions rather than any true sadness, and when Safrin spread her arms Seren slipped into the embrace to return it.
"I love you too, mama" she whispered, chest aching with the truth of her words.

She didn't mention anything about the quest she had come to complete. Or the curious bone hidden on her island. It wasn't the time for either of those things - they could wait.

- FIN

The torturous stars are taking every breath I wish I held
The love in my heart is never ending